Two things happened today that I thought I'd never see. First, Valentino Rossi qualified last on the grid except for late replacement Sylvain Guintoli. If I could explain why this situation has arisen I would, but several things are clear. First, the 1.1 which worked fine with the 1000cc engine does not behave the same with the 800cc engine. The situation is so fraught that Rossi will now consider reverting to the GP11 Desmosedici at Laguna Seca. One wonders if the presence of Jerry Burgess, still in Australia looking after his wife, Claudine, who recently had surgery, would have bought some order to proceedings.

The other gob-smacker has been the riders declaring that they won't go to Motegi, because of some perceived fear of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Yes, the same riders who have been riding around all year with slogans in support of Japan all over their bikes and leathers. The same riders who asked for more information and then ignored it when it came. For the record, there is no increased radiation level at Motegi, and there is no radiation in the tap water (check the International Atomic Energy Agency's website for an enormous amount of data on Fukushima). You will be exposed to more radiation flying to Japan than over a weekend in Motegi, and if you're worried about the milliseiverts adding up, for pity's sake don't have an x-ray and definitely steer clear of CT scans. You'd also be surprised at the amount of radiation in a banana—look it up, they're full of potassium and the K40 isotope is seriously hot.

The Japanese Superbike Championship has raced at Motegi, the World Trials Championship is scheduled to go and so is the Indy Racing League (or whatever it's called this year).

Yet MotoGP riders are saying they won't go.

Back on planet Earth, if you look at the data from today's practice and qualifying, tomorrow's race should be between Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo. Dani Pedrosa qualified well but is still hurting and the data suggest that he stuck in one hot lap rather than a string of laps at the pace the other front-row men managed.

Every race that he's stayed on his wheels, Valentino has been top Ducati (Hayden beat him in Jerez because Vale had to pick his bike up after skittling Stoner). If he manages that tomorrow, it'll be a bigger shock than his qualifying position.